Toddler safe after abduction

Page Tools

ALERT SYSTEM: Messages about the abduction flash up on road signs.Photo: Lee Besford

Police yesterday activated the city's new child-abduction alert
system for the first time following the violent home invasion and
kidnapping of a 15-month-old boy.

The boy's mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said
she feared the abductors were going to harm her son during the
kidnap ordeal that ended with him being dumped at a fast-food
restaurant in St Peters yesterday afternoon.

"It's the biggest relief of my life to have him back, I want to
thank NSW Police for keeping my son safe and returning him healthy
and well," she said.

Five people have been arrested in relation to the kidnapping,
before which the toddler's father was stabbed and badly beaten.

The child was snatched from a house in Blakehurst after his
parents were held hostage from early yesterday by a man armed with
a knife and a pistol.

The couple were held for several hours before police raided the
home at 8.30am.

St George local area commander Superintendent Mark Murdoch said
the boy was found by a passer-by dumped at a Hungry Jacks fast food
outlet.

"He was taken to Newtown police station where ambulance officers
checked him over and gave him the thumbs up."

The incident started in the early hours of Saturday morning, he
said.

"When we arrived we gained access to the premises. Two people
were inside but we became aware that the baby was not, and as a
consequence we've launched this large operation today to find the
child - which, thankfully, we did."

A man was arrested near the scene and a man and a woman were
later arrested at Roselands.

On finding the boy missing, police appealed to the public and
taxi drivers to look out for the boy. Based on an American model,
the new alert system also involved displaying emergency messages
about the missing child and his description on electronic
billboards across the city.

The kidnapping drama began unfolding when police called at a
Beach Street, Blakehurst, house after a triple-0 call claiming a
man and woman had been held at knife and gunpoint by an intruder
demanding money.

Neighbour Camille Dale, 25, told The Sun-Herald she was
cleaning when she noticed uniformed officers swarming along the
footpath outside.

"All of a sudden I saw armed police wandering along the path and
in my yard," she said. "I also heard a noise in my back room. I
asked them were they looking for someone and they said yes.

"Seconds later they caught a man climbing over my fence and took
him away."

Ms Dale said there had been frequent complaints about the loud
arguments of the family next door. The boy's father was last night
in hospital recovering from stab wounds.